SRHBN 119/8 in 20 overs (Shakir Khan 26, Rahul 22, Puneet 3/18) lost to RCVN 123/7 in 19.2 overs (Puneet 58, Gaurang 19, Shakir 3/35) by 3 wickets
The Indian Premier League 2019 had to start a bit early in order to avoid clash with the Cricket World Cup. But there was nothing of such interruption in Ajmer this summer as Ajmer Premier League went ahead, parallel to the Cricket World Cup 2019.
8 teams based on various towns of Ajmer with similar names as of the IPL teams competed against each other for 10 days to be crowned as the Champions of Ajmer. Unlike IPL, the Ajmer Premier League had 2 groups of four teams each who played a game against each other with two teams from each group making it to the semi finals.
Chandrawardai Stadium situated in Ajmer was ready to host the final of summer extravaganza. Both the finalists ensured a rematch at the finals by knocking out both the semi finalists from group B. While the RCVN topped the table in group A, SRHBN were ranked second. Fun fact, the tournament began with these two teams facing each other in the inaugural game and now they were the ones who were going to close this out.
The rivalry began in the first game itself as RCVN defeated SRHBN on the penultimate ball of the match as Puneet smoked one over long on to finish it off with 6 required off two balls. As soon as it was decided that these two teams are up against each other in the finals, the excitement doubled up.
The final began with Skipper Puneet Mishra winning the toss and electing to field first. Chirag got rid of Shabaz in the very first over. A slow but steady partnership of 33 was cut short by Puneet Mishra in the seventh over as he removed well set Shakir (There’s no better sight then witnessing a captain getting another). Depleted SRHBN neither could build a partnership after that nor could they cash in some runs. The Wicketkeeper batsman Rahul (22) and Jenny scored some quick runs in the end to ensure a total worth fighting but it was far from being safe. With his clever variations, Puneet bagged three wickets for 18, before batting SRHBN out of the game.
Even before the game begins, SRHBN must have spent hours compiling a plan for Puneet. He is the one who single handedly snatched the game away from them when these two teams met last time. The plans were probably not good enough. The second inning began Surendra opting to take on the bowlers straightaway. After a bit of spark, he perished. A couple of decent partnerships with Vahid (17) and Gaurang (19) ensured that the SHRBN are out of the game as they enter last five overs. But the game of cricket can never be trusted and it was evident in the APL final once again. A collapse entered the finals as RCVN lost five wickets in the final over for just 12 runs. They were fortunate enough to have their savior, Puneet still on the other end. With eight required of last over and a tail ender on strike, the stage was set for a cliffhanger. After bowling a wide Kuldeep had Manish caught for a duck but this ensured the strike for Puneet. The pressure got to Kuldeep in front of a set batsman and he bowled a wide while trying to keep it away from the batsman. An overcorrection next ball resulted in a hit outside the park and the game was over. RCB could not beat SRH from similar situation in 2016 but RCVN had other plans against SRHBN. Puneet finished the tournament with 267 and 8 wickets in just five games and no one came even close to him in the Cricheeros MVP points as he secured 46.999 points while second ranked Sharad Cheeta II could manage only 29.769.
